Ep 14: The Best Things in Life Are Free // San Francisco

Are the best things in life free? 

I can say for sure many of the best things in life are not free, but some really good things are actually free, or definitely low-cost. 

1)                  Good ideas are certainly free. Talk to other people, and that’s free. And please don’t feel ashamed for not figuring things out yourself.

2)                  Also, the cheapest way, and the least stressful way to make more friends is to be yourself.

3)      My first and third college degrees were free. 

4)      I got all my career coaching and knowledge for free.

5)      Also, the meetup events that I attend are totally free. 

6)      The school of life is free…. or not so free.    

7)      My awesome gym is almost for free!

Conversely, free things in life are often the best. Because the Universe delivers you the awesomest and most suitable things to you. Especially when you ask for and pray for them.  

But even with those, you still have to spend some time and effort in some way… such as nurturing your personal relationships with the people in your life, or by cultivating your relationship with God or the Universe. 

So get out there and put forth your best efforts and you can find the best things in life, and get them for free too!... if you’re lucky!... or blessed.   

Transcript

Hey there Listeners! Welcome to Episode 14 of the Shy to Dynamic podcast! And thank you for listening today and for continuing to tune in. I’ll get right into it. 

This past weekend I attended a concert of my favorite artist, historically speaking anyway. That artist is my beloved Janet Jackson. Her concerts are always so enjoyable for me, and so high energy with all the dancing and stagecraft. It’s so amazing that she can still pack so many complex and intricate dance moves into one show, especially at the age of 58 years old! I’m in awe of her talent. But I’m not talking about talent today.

During this show, Janet performed many of her biggest hits. One of those hits is a catchy upbeat duet with the late Luther Vandross, who is another one of my favorite artists historically. The song I’m talking about is called “The Best Things in Life Are Free”. After being reminded of this particular tune, I started to ponder over and really think about the title of this song. I began to think: Is this often-repeated maxim really true? Are the best things in life free? 

I can say for sure many of the best things in life are not free, but some really good things are actually free, or definitely low-cost. I’m not talking about cheesy things like the love of your family or your pets, or the air we breathe. Because of course those things are pretty great and are mostly free. I’m talking about some other free things. 

1)                  For instance, good ideas are certainly free. One of the best things you can do when you can’t find a solution to a problem is to talk to other people, and that’s free. Obviously if you have a very serious emotional or traumatic issue, you might have to pay for help and resolution that your typical friends can’t help you with. But of course, for basic things, it’s good to ask family or friends for their input of advice. That’s the benefit of making more friends. And that’s the benefit of overcoming your shyness and being able to untimidly talk to friends. 

Even if you don’t talk to other people, you can talk to God, or talk to the Universe. Which some might say is tapping into your subconscious mind to find the answer. 

Another way is to research books about a topic, which of course can be low-cost, or at least lower cost than a therapist. Now I’m definitely not trying to deter you from finding a therapist if that is what you want or need. But there are other preliminary options out there if you truly can’t afford, or don’t want to pay for therapy.  

And of course, thank God for the internet where there an infinite amount of ideas for free! And it’s usually the best method for connecting you to any of the above sources of information and ideas that I mentioned above.  

And when it comes to ideas, please don’t feel ashamed for not figuring things out yourself and having to go to sources outside of yourself. One of my friends who attended the Janet Jackson concert with me suggested that we not use Uber to attend the concert because we could have found ourselves stuck without a ride after the show. A great idea! I could have been kicking myself because I didn’t come to that conclusion all on my own, but you can benefit from ideas that come from anyone! Her free advice maybe saved us some money, but it definitely saved us a lot of mental stress and a lot of time. And that idea from her came for free!

2)                  Also, the cheapest way, and the least stressful way to make more friends is to be yourself. It costs you a lot less stress and time and effort to be your authentic self than to try to be someone else. Not to say that you shouldn’t try to fix whatever character flaws you have, but in general, you can just be yourself, and being yourself is totally free.

Now I will talk about some awesome things in my life that were free or low-cost.

3)      My first and third college degrees were free. Way back in 1992, I went to a North Carolina A&T State University recruiting session at my specialized high school for smart kids. They asked all the high school seniors to write down our SAT scores and put them into a box, and it turned out quite shockingly that I had the highest SAT score in the group. So naturally, they gave me a full tuition scholarship. What an amazing blessing. 

Fast forward many years later, in 2016 I applied to grad school to study meteorology. For some reason, I had the audacity to believe that I could get a free ride there too. I applied to four schools, and I got into only one of them. It was the exact one I really wanted to get into. The University of Arizona gave me free tuition plus a research job with a stipend. I was blessed once again. It allowed me to achieve my goal of living out West for part of my life. The best things in life can certainly be free! And having the strong belief that you can have something you desire in your life is totally free as well. Because you just might get it.

4)      Last year in 2023, I made the firm decision that I wanted to leave my job and find something better. I came across an online coaching program that would coach me to get a better higher-paying job that was more aligned to my career goals. In this program, if I found a job within a year, they would deduct a hefty fee from your salary. If I didn’t find a job within a year, I could exit their program, no payment required. I ended up finding my dream job after I left their program, so I got all their coaching and knowledge for free! And plus I got the job I wanted! 

5)      Also, the meetup events that I attend are totally free. These meetup events have led to a drastic 180 degree change in my social life and I have gained a ton of friends. So much so that I was even elected to be “president” of my 12-member friend group. (Which is an honorary meaningless title because I have no duties whatsoever, but they felt I was the one who brought them all together, so I should be president.) So I got a whole group of friends and a fabulous new social life for free. I had to pay no one for my new friendships!

On top of that, I also have hosted some meetup events. Normally in order to host events, you need to own your own meetup group which has high fees. But my friends who own a meetup group allowed me to host events within their groups, so I had to pay nothing. Yep, the best things in life are definitely often free!

6)      It may be a little bit of a stretch, but the school of life is free. You experience many things that teach you how to be the best human you can be if you want to be. Sometimes the things you learn in life are things you didn’t want to learn, but nonetheless, it’s all for free. Or maybe this example is not completely true. You do have to pay in a lot of ways emotionally. And it takes a lot of money to feed this body we’re living in and to keep it healthy! So scratch that one – maybe it’s not so free.    

7)      And oh yeah, there’s one thing that I found recently that was surprisingly almost free! I have been looking feverishly for a good gym since I moved to Charlotte in 2022. Charlotte doesn’t have a good gym scene. I hadn’t looked for a new gym in quite a long while, and earlier this month, I decided to bite the bullet and I googled it and found one that sounded interesting and it was close to where I live. And it has a cool name… It’s called Eat the Frog. Anyway, I went and spoke to the salespeople and I liked it and I joined! It turns out that one of the perks of this gym is a rewards program. The more calories you burn, the more points you get! You can even redeem your points for hotel stays. 

So this past weekend, I met some friends in Greenville, SC for a two-day, one-night vacation. I used the points I had accrued and it reduced my one-night hotel stay from $179 to $97! That’s a savings of about $80. My gym membership was $109. So that effectively made my gym membership roughly $30! Not quite free, but pretty darn close! And I really like this gym a lot for many reasons. So are the best things in life for free? Well, this awesome gym is certainly almost for free!

And often, you find that many good things in life end up being free. And conversely, free things in life are often the best. Because the Universe leads you to the best things for you. The Universe delivers you the awesomest and most suitable things to you. Especially when you ask for and pray for the best things to come to you. And the Universe provides this service to you for free! Well, except for the spiritual work you have to do to connect yourself to the Universe more and more each day.  

So what does the saying “The best things in life are free” really mean? I read an article online that said quote: 

If someone says that the best things in life are free, [they] mean that when people have the choice between spending money and focusing on their families and friends, [they] should choose the latter.

End quote. Alright, I get that. And I agree. But many tangible things in life can also be obtained for free or for little money if you are determined to believe in it and search for it and work hard for it… like in the examples I mentioned. But if you have to put in time and effort to obtain those things, then are those things free?

Another article stated this very well. It said:

First, if nothing else, the best things in life usually require you to trade your scarcest, and therefore most valuable, commodity—your time.

End quote. And I would add “effort” to that equation as well. 

So overall, you can get many great things for free such as ideas, or the beauty of nature, or acts of kindness, or the love of family and friends, for free. But even with those, you still have to spend some time and effort in some way… such as nurturing your personal relationships with the people in your life, or by cultivating your relationship with God or the Universe. 

And then there are the tangible things that you can get for free or at least for less than you would think. But it takes time and effort to find those things too. And to get the tangible things such as the scholarships I received, or even the hotel rewards I received by working out at my new gym, it takes either hard mental work or physical work to get those too. So you have to pay the piper in some kind of way. So get out there and put forth your best efforts and you can find the best things in life, and get them for free too!... if you’re lucky!... or blessed.   

So that’s it for this topic today. This is a somewhat short episode. I was just inspired by my girl, Janet to talk about this one particular principle today.

And this week’s episode is dedicated to the city of San Francisco! There is no connection between the topic today and the city of San Francisco. Except for the fact, that living in San Francisco is the total opposite of free. My good friend who lives there is often telling me about when he goes out to dinner and it costs a ridiculous amount. In fact, he bought a cup of orange juice at some place and it cost $8. I don’t know how big this cup of juice was, but I’m 100% sure it was not a gallon-sized cup of juice. 

Outside of that, San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in America I’ve ever visited. I love the very distinct neighborhoods and the culture, and the amazing scenery. It’s the only place I’ve been where there are mountains jutting out from the ocean. Like mountain islands. It’s crazy. There is so much to talk about regarding San Francisco that I’m not gonna double the size of this episode by going on and on about it. You’ll just have to visit it for yourself! And trust me, it won’t be free, no matter how much effort you put into it!   

So… if you have enjoyed this episode, and you’ve gotten something useful and meaningful out of this episode, then please give me five stars and write a review. Your ratings and reviews are really important! And it’s free! It costs you nothing to write a review. It’ll cost you nothing to pass this podcast along to your friends or family or anyone you know that could benefit from what I’m saying as well! And please contact me and let me know what you think as well. There is a text message option in the show notes!

As always, remember to show up and DELIVER for yourself today and everyday, and create a NEW important and dynamic version of yourself!

Episode 14, the San Francisco episode, is now DONE!